Details Emerge on Putin’s ‘Sovereign’ Gaming Consoles: One Featuring Homegrown Elbrus CPU, the Other a Chinese Replica — Russian Government Concedes They Can’t Rival PS5 or Xbox

When it comes to creating a homegrown gaming console, there’s always a risk of stumbling due to limited resources or veering off into imitative territory, losing the true sovereign nature. After President Putin’s directive in the spring for a Russian-made game console, the industry seems to be embarking on two distinct paths. According to Habr.com, one route involves crafting a console around the domestically developed dual-core Elbrus processor. Meanwhile, a report from RBC highlights another strategy: launching a cloud gaming service using inexpensive consumer hardware and dubbing it ‘sovereign.’

Russia is working on a gaming console powered by the Elbrus processor, which boasts a Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) microarchitecture initially intended for demanding, high-stakes computing tasks. However, when it comes to performance, Elbrus has faced criticism, with benchmarks typically labeling it as “completely unacceptable” for most common uses.

Expectations for this new console aren’t sky-high when compared to heavyweights like the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X|S. This has led Russian officials to urge developers to think outside the box to tackle the performance shortfall.

“I trust my colleagues will approach this challenge with genuine responsibility and devise something truly innovative,” wrote Anton Gorelkin, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy. “It’s clear to everyone: Elbrus processors haven’t reached the necessary level to rival the PS5 or Xbox on equal footing, so the solution must be unique.”

This innovative approach might mean simplifying games to a level that Elbrus CPUs can manage, which wouldn’t likely appeal to a Russian audience already enjoying top-notch games. Alternatively, another solution could be using cloud computing and rendering—though that would demand gamers have perfect high-speed, low-latency internet connections.

Gorelkin additionally highlighted the importance of the console not just being a platform for rehashed older games, but also as a means to bolster domestic video game presence.

Shifting gears to cloud gaming, MTS, a significant player in Russia’s telecom scene, is developing a console of its own, revealing its hand openly by branding it as the MTS Fog Play platform. This apparatus is grounded in cloud-based gaming, featuring low-end hardware, paired with an Xbox-style controller, and priced at a modest $50. It’s clear that, for this price, creating a console capable of running even basic Android games isn’t feasible. Hence, MTS’s Fog Play service steps in, providing the backbone for remote and rental gaming experiences, allowing players with powerful PCs to rent MTS games and continue utilizing their own hardware.

Neither of these gaming consoles has hit the shelves yet, but we’ll be monitoring closely to pounce on any benchmark numbers as soon as they arrive.